Teaneck seniors attend prom a day after charges downgraded in prank incident

TEANECK — The high school’s Class of 2014 cleaned up well for Thursday night’s prom, which some feared was in jeopardy after the senior-class prank two weeks ago that resulted in criminal charges for one-fifth of the class.

But the large crowd gathered in the parking lot of Fairleigh Dickinson University for the annual “show off” — a tradition in which teenagers strut in their dresses and tuxedos — showered the budding adults with celebrity-esque cheers and compliments, which many said was a testament to the character of the township.

“No matter what happens in this town, we show support for one another,” said Rosalena Nova, a 17-year-old prom attendee escorted by David Martinez, also 17. Both said celebrating the end of their high school careers had special significance after weeks of negative attention for the township’s teenagers.

On Wednesday, students arrested in connection with what was said to be another tradition ­— the senior prank — learned they were facing less severe charges and that they could walk away from the ordeal without a criminal record. School administrators decided against taking away the prom for the students caught in the incident.

Many of those same students arrived in luxury cars, stretch limousines, and party buses. It drizzled for most of the affair, but the young women stepped out wearing flowy dresses of chiffon and layered lace, in every color of the rainbow, some of them with trains that swept the damp concrete parking lot. The young men were in classic tuxedos, some of them opting for a dash of color in their bow ties, vests and handkerchiefs.

“Everybody cleans up well,” Brooke Burns, 17, said after she and her escort, 17-year-old Alteriq Taylor, completed their stroll past hundreds of students, parents and other guests lined up along a metal barricade. “It proves that this is not a bad place.”

Jeffery Bivins, 18, one of the students charged in the prank incident, said he and others arrested were together on Wednesday, when they learned that the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office had downgraded the charges of burglary and criminal mischief to lesser offenses of disorderly conduct and trespassing.

Bivins, a member of the township’s Youth Advisory Board who has received multiple scholarships to attend college in the fall, said the prosecutor’s announcement was a great relief.

“We don’t have that dark cloud over our heads — we can breathe,” he said, adding that prom “is the best way to celebrate our positive accomplishments.”

More than 100 students are said to have entered the school in the early morning hours of May 1 — authorities allege some sprayed Silly String in the halls, turned over tables and chairs, greased doorknobs and urinated. By the start of the school day, police had arrested 63 seniors, some age 18 and others 17.

But after an investigation, it was unclear who did what and, authorities said, it hasn’t been determined how students got access to a set of keys used to get into the school. The lingering questions influenced the decision for leniency, said John Molinelli, the county prosecutor.

“In coming to this conclusion, we considered the impact that criminal convictions may have on individuals at such an early stage in their life,” Molinelli said in a statement released Wednesday afternoon.

Thursday night’s “show off” has been a tradition in Teaneck since the 1960s, said Al Schulz, a retired member of the Teaneck Police Department who is an attendance officer for the district. The event was first held in the parking lot of a business on Teaneck Road and, when it grew, was moved to Thomas Jefferson Middle School and eventually to FDU’s campus, where it has been held for the last few years.

Gervonn Rice, vice president of the Teaneck Board of Education, snapped pictures of the students as they arrived and walked the barricade Thursday evening. She said the students needed to know that, even when they made mistakes, “they are very well supported by the community.”